Lafarge SA said yesterday the building of its Randfontein plant, a key part of its plans to increase production by about a quarter, was on track to meet its October completion deadline, despite power cuts experienced earlier this year. The Randfontein plant is part of a R1.2bn capacity expansion, which is expected to lift Lafarge’s annual cement output by 1Mt to a total of just less than 4Mt.
The investment includes the expansion of its Lichtenburg operations in North West, expected to come on-stream in January. The company has another plant in Richards Bay, with output of about 200,000t. CEO Albert Corcos said the greenfields project on the West Rand would grow Lafarge’s market share in Gauteng from 25% now. PPC and AfriSam are the two market leaders in SA’s cement industry.
